Daily Rewind: PokerStars' Memo, Payment Processor Arrested, Greenstein's Debt

In today's Daily Rewind we peek at PokerStars' internal memos, watch another DOJ coup and get news of Barry Greenstein's intention to repay his debt.

The Daily Rewind is your one-stop-shop for a sharp review of the day in poker. Join us here for a mix of the latest news and a more irreverent insight into the poker world. Today we discovered the following topics for you:

Internal Joy at PokerStars' Purchase

It’s been hailed as “a unique and exciting opportunity” to create a “larger and stronger” online poker platform according to PokerStars’ Mark Scheinberg.

The thoughts of the Scheinberg following the takeover Full Tilt have been revealed in a leaked memo.

According to EGR Magazine, the general mood amongst PokerStars’ employees is one of jubilation and thanks.

The memo contains a number of responses to the purchase of Full Tilt, including:

“Congratulations PokerStars another proud day working for the industry leader” and “truly amazing to be part of such a great company on this momentous day. Great work PokerStars!”

Scheinberg now believes the hard work is just about to begin, but if they can do it well, then it should mean “some opportunities for growth an expansion”.

Indeed, with the poker community in a state of exaltation following the rebirth of Full Tilt, people are now looking to the future and asking when the site will finally re-launch.

Another Indicted Processor Falls

While PokerStars positioned themselves as the white knights of poker over the last few days, the industry’s dark knights, the DOJ, have continued to wield their sickle.

With PokerStars takeover of Full Tilt dominating the headlines, news of Nelson Burtnick's (one of the 11 indicted in the Black Friday coup) arrest managed to slip under the radar.

The former Director of Payment Processing for Full Tilt and Head of Payment Processing at PokerStars, handed himself over to the authorities at Newark Airport, New Jersey, on Tuesday.

After pleading not guilty to charges of operating an illegal online poker business, Burtnick was released after the $500,000 bail was covered.

Burtnick, along with Bradley Franzen, Chad Elie and Ryan Lang, must now await the US government’s verdict on their involvement in the mass bank fraud case.

Barry Looking to Pay Debt

Barry's ready to hand over the cash

In the wake of Full Tilt’s closure, one of the biggest stories to pique the interest of the community was the money owed to company by some well known pros.

Phil Ivey, Mike Matusow and Barry Greenstein were amongst those who were left with a debt but no one to pay it to.

With a new owner in place, forum discussions have now turned to when these pros are going to pay what they owe.

One player who’s always been upfront about his finances is Barry Greenstein.

In a recent forum post, the PokerStars pro confirmed that he will settle his debt as well as questioned who else would do the same:

“I was always going to have to pay whoever owned Full Tilt. (Not what Tapie Group was trying to do which was own assets but not the debts.) Clearly, PokerStars will own Full Tilt in a few days or a little longer, and finally I will know who to pay. I'm curious if they will try to collect from anyone else.”

High Stakes Corner

A big day at the virtual felt, yesterday, produced some even bigger winners thanks to some $200/$400 PLO action.

Possibly spurred on by the prospect of recouping some of their Full Tilt bankrolls, Joeri “L0ve2playU” van der Sman and Daniel “junglemandan ” Cates opened up their games and posted big wins.

The former topped the table with a profit of $468,143, while Cates scooped $249,534 after a strong session against “wilhasha”.

A good day for Cates

Indeed, “wilhasha” ended the day as the biggest loser (-$226,401), with “10IsTheYear” not far behind with a loss of $224,838 in just 128 hands.

Daily Signoff

When Barry Greenstein receives his invoice from PokerStars regarding his Full Tilt Poker debts, he may decide the same thing that he declared after this hand versus Tom "durrrr" Dwan: 'Math is idiotic.'